Outsourcing
The New York Times, 2/13/03: Software Success Has India Worried
By SARITHA RAI
BOMBAY, Feb. 12 — Is the United States going to start turning its back on outsourcing, the lifeblood of India's software and services industry?
[more]
VNUNet, 2/10/03: Offshore IT services now mainstream
By Rachel Fielding [10-02-2003]
UK companies will be forced to partner offshore players, predicts analyst
The UK market for offshore IT services is poised for further expansion as the model moves to 'must have' status for the country's struggling software and IT services sector players.
In its first ever analysis of the UK's offshore service market, analyst Ovum Holway warns that software and IT services companies will be forced to partner with offshore players or risk losing out to overseas competitors.
[more]
VNUNet, 2/13/03: Offshore outsourcing is booming - but what about the UK job losses?
Bryan Glick
If you are a budget-conscious IT director, the mention of offshore outsourcing may bring a smile to your face.
For software programmers or call centre workers, the reaction is likely to be more negative.
[more]
IT Management
Information Week, 2/12/03: Harsh Assessment Of IT From Peter Drucker Feb. 12, 2003
Information technology is still not delivering on the promises made by vendors.
By Tony Kontzer
Time finally is catching up with Peter Drucker. The famed business theorist, now 93, was slated to participate in an extended Q&A session at a Delphi Group conference in San Diego on Tuesday, but his failing health forced Delphi to conduct the session remotely, with Drucker having recorded voice responses to questions submitted beforehand by conference attendees.
Despite the less-intimate format, Drucker's perspectives still carried weight with the audience. He shared the notion that corporate IT hasn't come close to delivering the benefits companies have been looking for. "Information technology is beginning to supply the information we need for business decisions," Drucker said. "It provides nothing of use about the outside [business] environment." Where IT has been most helpful, he said, is in supporting internal operational decisions.
[more]
Government
Computerworld, 2/12/03: GAO: Financial industry needs to do more on security front
By TODD R. WEISS
While U.S. financial markets have made progress in making themselves less vulnerable to damage following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, more work is still needed, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report released today in Washington.
[more]
Security
Internet News, 2/12/03: Banking on Fear?
By Ryan Naraine
Looking to ride the publicity wave generated by the SQL Slammer worm that wreaked havoc on networks worldwide, some of the biggest names in the software security industry are rushing to hawk early detection and warning systems for Internet attacks.
Dueling announcements from Symantec (Quote, Company Info), Network Associates (Quote, Company Info) and Sygate Technologies outlined the importance of detecting and warning about hacker attacks in the early stages to avoid widespread propagation, but one analyst believes many security firms are helping to create fear and uncertainty to bump up software sales.
[more]
Microsoft
Computerworld, 2/12/03: Office 11 becomes Office 2003; second beta due soon
By Joris Evers, IDG News Service
The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Office, now known as Office 11, will likely be called Office 2003 following the release of the second beta version early next month, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans.
[more]
Infoworld, 2/13/03: Microsoft eyes the datacenter
Aims to develop 'virtual datacenter' software
By James Niccolai February 13, 2003
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Microsoft hopes to play alongside Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and others in developing "virtual datacenter" software that will make it easier to manage applications running across groups of servers, a company executive said Wednesday.
"It's a problem that we're pretty excited about solving, and there are lots of things we're doing to tackle it across the company," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows server group, in a presentation at the company's Silicon Valley campus here Wednesday.
[more]
Desktop Management’
The New York Times, 2/13/03: Out With the Old? It's Not So Simple
By KATIE HAFNER
SANA LUCIANO has moved three times in the past two years. Each time, Dr. Luciano, who is an assistant professor of English at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., has taken along boxes containing her old and obsolete computers.
Some of the machines are now stored in her basement, but others are scattered around her office, including an Apple PowerBook containing the only copy of some research she did on 19th-century mourning rituals.
For years, because of a hardware glitch, she has been unable to take the data off the computer. So she simply keeps the machine around, consulting it as she might a reference book whenever she needs to look at the material.
"Some day," she said, sounding vaguely wistful, "I will get those files off that computer. Or something."
[more]
Customer Support
The New York Times, 2/13/03: Shake a Phone Tree. Shake Again.
By SARAH MILSTEIN
ON Dec. 19, at 9:36 a.m., my modem died.
The modem provided high-speed Internet service over a digital subscriber line, or D.S.L. At first, I thought the problem was with EarthLink, my service provider. I called the company's technical support line and asked whether its network was down. The technician replied with a question: "Is the second light on your modem yellow?" It was. His verdict: "That thing is dead."
In six years as my service provider, EarthLink has sometimes served me well, and after my modem was eventually replaced, company executives graciously answered questions about my experience. But throughout the process, I encountered a typical aggravation: technical support that causes more distress than the problem it is supposed to solve.
[more]
8:24:58 AM 
|
